Just how "moderate" is Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani?The answer is - it really doesn't matter. Like Ahmadinajad, he will have nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program, and having a Muslim Santa Claus replacing the ape that preceded him will mean literally zero as to what Iran is doing in its drive for nuclear weapons that would threaten the entire world.
When your country has a "Supreme Leader," the title of "President" is more or less symbolic.
The Ayatollah Khamenei even told the candidates that they must not make any concessions to the West, which makes the entire idea of a "moderate" president a joke.
The mainstream media, however, keeps talking about Rouhani as if he is literally a moderate, and not just moderate relative to the handpicked ultra-right wing candidates allowed to run for the office. The Washington Post and a host of other media outlets simply call him a "moderate" and the Huffington Post even calls him a "reformist."
This is for a person who has praised Bashar Assad and said “Syria has constantly been on the frontline of fighting Zionism and this resistance line must not be weakened.”
Moreover, Rouhani proudly boasts that as Iran's nuclear negotiator, he managed to delay Western sanctions while pushing the nuclear program forward. Arash Karami describes an interview with candidate Rouhani on Iranian TV:
In the first question regarding Rouhani’s time as nuclear negotiator, Abedini made a reference to P5+1 negotiations, to which Rouhani corrected him: “Mr. Abedini, don’t be mistaken in your question. My negotiations were with the EU-3, not P5+1.” Rouhani then explained the conditions which previous negotiations took place, saying, “What did America want to do? They wanted to send our case to the UN Security Council. They wanted what he had technologically to not be complete. We were after an opportunity to complete our technology.”As president, it seems apparent that Rouhani will do the exact same thing - run interference for the West with his smiling demeanor while Iran's nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery program speeds forward.
Rouhani said that when the three ministers of Europe were invited to Iran, they promised to veto America at the UN with respect to Iran’s nuclear program. He continued, “And this was during the era of Bush, when crazy neocons had attacked Afghanistan, occupied Iraq and everyone said that Iran is next. … During that era, we didn’t allow war. We didn’t allow our case to go to the Security Council.” Rouhani said of his era, “During that time, we started with ministers and then started negotiating with the presidents. This is what we should do today.”
Abedini then asked him about specific agreements and suspensions that took place in the nuclear program when Rouhani was in charge of negotiations. Rouhani responded, “What you said is a lie, you know it’s a lie. … This talk is what ignorant people say, you are versed in this.” Rouhani continued, rather excitedly and with a smile, “Maybe the person speaking to you in your earpiece doesn’t know, but you know.” After another challenge by Abedini, Rouahni responded, “It’s good for you to read history.” Rouahani then started listing Iran’s achievements during the era in question, incrementally raising his volume and emphasis with each achievement.
“We suspended the program?” Rouhani asked rhetorically. “We completed the program!"
Given how eager the gullible Western media is to represent him as a "moderate," it looks like the Supreme Leader could not have picked a better person to be president.